The present invention relates to a tape loading device for use in a recording/reproducing apparatus, typically VTRs, in which a tape as a recording medium is made to run in contact with a guide drum incorporating therein a transducer, over a predetermined wrap angle.
FIG. 44 shows, by way of example, a conventional tape loading device which is adapted for use, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 171070/1984, in a recording/reproducing apparatus of the type mentioned above.
A tape 103 is extracted from a supply reel 102 of a tape cassette 101 and runs past guide posts and an eraser head. Then, after making a turn on a guide drum 104 through a predetermined angle which is in this case 221.degree., the tape is taken up by a take-up reel 106 past a capstan 105. In this known tape loading device, the tape cassette 101 as a unit with a reel drive mechanism (not shown) is slidable with respect to the guide drum 104, so that the guide drum 104 finally comes into the opening 101a in the tape cassette 101, whereby a reduction is attained in the size of the device as a whole. This arrangement is generally referred to as "cassette overlap system".
Another proposal for the reduction in the size of the tape loading device is to reduce the size of the guide drum. A recording/reproducing apparatus incorporating such a guide drum of reduced size, referred to as "VHS video movie", is shown in FIG. 45. This video movie incorporates a guide drum 107 having a diameter which is as small as 2/3 that of the standard guide drum 110, by virtue of the use of four heads A, B, A', B' as shown in FIG. 46. FIG. 47 shows a tape pattern which illustrates the fact that both guide drums are completely interchangeable. As is well known to those skilled in the art, the wrap angle of the tape on the reduced-diameter guide drum 107 is about 3/2 that on the standard size guide drum 110. When this art is applied to the 8 mm video, the arrangement is as shown in FIG. 48 with the following specifications: